Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1887-04-28
PERFUME-MAKiNG.
An Industry Which Might Ise Successfully
Developed in the United States.

An Industry Which Might Ise Successfully
Developed in the United States.
Although essential oils for the max
ing of vegetable extracts and for medi-
-cinal purposes are quite largely manu-
efactured in the United States. perfume
making in its proper sense. is yet in its
infancy. The peppermint fields of
Southwestern Michigan, in good years.
are said to be more remunerative than
wheat raising, and there is no reason
why flower farms for the production of
fine perfumes should not also be cult
waited. Our finest perfumes still come
from across the sea. Pure altar of
noses is still the costly secret of the
Orient, small flask of it with its
Arabic trade mark often bringing
thousand dollars. French altar of
roses is probably more extensively used
than the Turkish. but it is not equal to
the latter in purity and delicacy and
does not bring so high price.
Flower raising is an extensive indus
try in Southern France, acres upon
acre. of tuberoses. geraniums, orange
blossoms, jasmine. roses and other
specimens of Flora's realm please the
eye with their beauties, and steep the
senses in their delicious fragrance.
Beneath the orange and lemon trees
grow odorous masses of violets, which
require but little cultivation, and bring,
1T is said, an average of five cents per
pound. Acacia trees. with their hon
, ey-dripping blossoms. line the road
sides, and the orange orchards of Nice
and Cannes are as extensive as the corn
fields of Illinois and Indiana. At Nice
alone the daily sale of orange blossoms
during the harvest of these flowers,
which lasts about five weeks, is esti-
mated at from eighteen to twenty tons,
while the violet crop raised on the same
ground amounts to $4,000 tons each
season. The gathering of these
lovely harvests gives employment to
hundreds of women and children. as
the flowers for perfume must be picked
by hand so as not to be bruised. Per-
fume-makers of the large cities often
buy the whole crops of flowers stand
ing and send agents to attend to the
harvesting. Years ago it was estimated
that this one branch of French industry
alone amounted to SIC, 100000 an
nually.
There is no reason why America,
with its great variety of soil and
climate, should not avail itself of the
benefits Of this industry, especially in
the Southern States and California.
And even in the North it could be
prosecuted with great profit. Roses,
violets. heliotrope. lilies of all kinds.
mignonette, mock orange, honey locust,
yerbenas, liiacs. bergamot, rosemary
and many other plants used in perfume
making could be easily grown. And
tho fields of white clover, the masses of
wild eglantine; the fragrant linden
trees, the odorous arbutus blooms and
water lilies, the spicy laurel. all of
which grow wild, without the aid of
human culture, need but gathering to
be made source OF profit Us well as
beauty. The possibilities of flower cnl-
,ture in the South can hardly be oyeresti-
mated. The most riotous imagination
can scarce1y picture the realities of the
natural flower gardens of California.
where plants which here. with the most
careful cultivation, arc only modest
shrubs, glow to tall trees, adorned
with their coronals of beauty and
fragrance. All the rare beauties of the
floral kingdom. which in the North are